Company Index

Nalgene

I'm not sure which is a worse practice of the Fischer Family Corporate Reign. The Mendocino Redwood Company clearcutting 350 square miles of Northern Californian Ancient Redwood forestland, or the Gap Inc. exploiting sweatshop workers in the production of their culturally homogeneous attire.

The Mendocino Redwood Company bought 235,000 acres of forestland from Louisiana Pacific in 1998. Much of this land had been destroyed over the last half century by clearcutting and burning, and MRC now continue the practice in order to supply its main distributor, Home Depot, with redwood decks and furniture.

MRC claims to be an "environmental steward" of the land, but of the 235,000 acres they have pledged only to protect 85 acres of Old Growth Redwoods. Last year, MRC applied for a federal permit to be held exempt from the Endangered Species Act of 1973, in order to speed along their logging process while wreaking havoc on the Northern Spotted Owl, wild Salmon, and other creatures which reside in this once densely populated forest.

See how much land The Mendocino Redwood Company owns.

If your clothing bears the tag of the Gap, Old Navy, or Banana Republic then chances are it was made in a sweatshop the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, China, or Indonesia. Gap takes no responsibility for the conditions of its sweatshops, where union workers are harrassed or beaten, and children as young as 12 are working 14 hour days behind a sewing machine for pennies an hour.

Read more about the campaign to Boycott the Gap and save the Redwoods.

*another MRC we could do without.